Valve suspends 19 more CS:GO players for match fixing

[Update: Valve and ESL have lifted the ban on the former ESC Gaming team, and reinstated its invitation to the Katowice 2015 offline qualifier. "The ex-ESC players were restricted from participating in Valve-sponsored events because their historical account activity matched allegations of misconduct," Valve said in a statement. "However, further investigation has clarified their role in the matter, and the restriction has been lifted."]

Original story:

Valve's ongoing investigation into pro-level Counter-Strike: Global Offensive match fixing has resulted in the suspension of another 19 players from its sponsored events. The ban means that three teams—Epsilon eSports, the former ESC Gaming, and WinneR—will not be eligible to compete in the offline qualifier for the upcoming ESL One Katowice 2015.

ESL One has scheduled a "last-chance tournament" for February 8 to determine the teams that will replace Epsilon eSports and ESC Gaming, while LGB eSports and 3DMAX will take WinneR's position. The league noted that those two teams had been slated to play a third-place match in the second European qualifier, but that will no longer be necessary as both teams will now advance.

14 of the players determined to be involved in match fixing have been given indefinite suspensions that won't be reviewed prior to 2016:

Kevin “Uzzziii” Vernel

Joey “fxy0” Schlosser

Robin “GMX” Stahmer

Morgan “B1GGY” Madour

Damian “DiAMon” Zarski

Michal “bCK” Lis

Jakub “kub” Pamula

Mateusz “matty” Kolodziejczyk

Michal “michi” Majkowski

Karol “rallen” Rodowicz

Mikolaj “mouz” Karolewski

Grzegorz “SZPERO” Dziamalek

Pawel “innocent” Mocek

Jacek “minise” Jeziak

Another five have been declared ineligible for ESL One Katowice while the investigation continues:

Robin “r0bs3n” Stephan

Tahsin “tahsiN” Sarikaya

Koray “xall” Yaman

Ammar “am0” Cakmak

Antonin “TONI” Bernhardt

Valve again said that professional CS:GO players and teams "should under no circumstances gamble on CS:GO matches" or associate with those who do, a position echoed by the ESL. "At ESL, we want to underline the fact that unsportsmanlike behavior, such as match fixing, will not be tolerated, and therefore the banned players will not be allowed to take part in any ESL CS:GO tournaments until these cases are reviewed by Valve," it said in a statement.

The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament at ESL One Katowice 2015 runs from March 12-15, and features a $250,000 prize pool.

Andy covers the day-to-day happenings in the big, wide world of PC gaming—the stuff we call "news." In his off hours, he wishes he had time to play the 80-hour RPGs and immersive sims he used to love so much.